Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has opted to play for English County side Surrey over Indian Premier League in the coming season. The right-hander insisted that he made the decision of choosing to play for Surrey to improve his game in the longer format. Marsh has earlier been a part of Rising Pune Supergiant.
"It was a fairly big decision from a money point of view but my ultimate goal is to play Test match cricket for Australia," Marsh told reporters in Sydney on Monday (January 1). "That's the lure of the IPL - the money and playing in India, but I made the decision based on my cricket. When I made that decision I didnt really think I was going to be back there this quickly. But Im really looking forward to the opportunity to play 14 red-ball games over there - if I can, and try to improve."
Moreover, Marsh told that Australia are scheduled to play cricket in England and for which he needs to adopt the conditions there. "Looking forward weve got a lot of cricket coming up in England over the next few years and I want to give myself the best opportunity to be over there and get used to the conditions," he added. "I certainly understood that (I needed to adapt better) when we went there for the Ashes a couple of years ago. Paying in their conditions for a whole summer, Ill get flat wickets, Ill get wickets that seam and swing."
Marsh scored his maiden Test ton during the ongoing Ashes series. Talking about his game plan and the execution, the Australian all-rounder said , "I said to him (Australian captain Steven Smith) as we were walking off that I was proud," he said. "Probably the biggest thing I was most happy about is that 12 months ago with my mental side of my game I probably dont think I could have got through that. I think Ive said it for a couple of weeks now, Ive been a lot more relaxed with this preparation when I came back to the Test team," he added. "I knew the game plan Id have to go out there with and it was about sticking to that for as long as we needed to get the draw."
